EPHESIANS # 2
From the first part of Chapter 1, we learn these transforming truths.
“I am blessed... with every spiritual blessing!”
“I am included in God’s family by His design and will.”
“I am valued because He invests His grace in me.”
“I am at rest because I am included in Christ.”
I hope you reviewed those declarations throughout the week. We are what we think and when we think God’s thoughts about us, life changes for the better!
Our text for today launches from those thoughts.
TEXT - Ephesians 1: 15-21
When I was pastoring in Massachusetts, in the 1990's, I worked a few hours each week for a local agency called Construct. Their mission was helping people build new lives. One of the things I did was teach computer skills to people who were retraining for new jobs. In one of my classes, there were two men who had been working in factories as laborers. Both realized that the way forward was to understand technology. With each week, I found delight in seeing them begin to grasp how to compose an email, how to do an internet search, how to find information. In a simple way, I opened their eyes to things they could not even conceive.
On several occasions I have visited major art museums. I see the work in front of me and appreciate something of the color and form, but lacking any real education in art, I know that I am not really ‘seeing’ all of the art! Were I to stand in front of the same painting or sculptures with Melina Zagra, who has a degree in Fine Art, my eyes would be opened to a whole new appreciation of the work!
Paul’s prayer for the Church is a prayer for growing knowledge of this way of life and of Christ Himself!
READ
Did you ever find out something that once you learned it seemed so obvious? The truth is that “we don’t know what we don’t know!” It’s one of the things that makes the trip from youth to maturity hazardous. We just don’t know how much we have to learn. Maybe that’s a good thing.
If any of us knew how costly it would be to take a child from infancy to adulthood, would we choose to become parents?
If we knew how the difficulties of marriage (or even the disappointment that love can bring our way) would we risk giving our heart away?
This prayer seeks that we come to know Christ better!
Re-read v. 17 "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." (Ephesians 1:17, NIV)
"My prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." (Ephesians 1:17, ESV)
Is Paul asking the Lord to give us the Holy Spirit to work deeply in us OR is he praying that God will stir our spirit, our inner person, to gain greater knowledge of Him? It can be read honestly both ways. What is clear from other passages is that the truths of God cannot be understood apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Bible teaches us that we have received “the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” (1 Co 2:12-14)
What we accept by faith is this: we can never figure God out on our own.
That is why Paul prays for two works in our inner person.
First, he prays for wisdom.
Wisdom is the ability to apply what we have learned! Knowledge is NOT the same as wisdom. Most parents go through the experience of dealing with their child gaining some knowledge before they pair it with wisdom.
ill.- When Christine, my youngest daughter, was finishing up her Master’s degree in counseling, she regularly advised me about life. One of the funniest moments was when she offered to enlighten me about our ‘family system.’ I am not demeaning her knowledge, and she did offer me some valuable insights. However, today, after a few years on the job, she has a new level of wisdom to go with her knowledge. Our discussions are even more valuable now.
Second, he prays for revelation.
Ever heard anyone call the last book in the Bible, which we generally refer to as the book of the Revelation, the Apocalypse? That word comes to us from the Greek of the NT, and it means, ‘unveiling.’ The same word is used here. Paul prays for God to unveil the Truth, to strip away the layers that obscure Him.
The aim of both of these is that we ‘may know Him better.’ Many of think that the goal of becoming wiser and understanding more of the mysteries of faith is so that life will work out better for us. But, God’s desire is not just to help you live a happier life. He’s not primarily interested in helping you to figure out how to be more successful or richer or how to play the stock market or get a promotion at work!
His desire is that we will become intimate with Christ,
that we will love Him more than anything or anyone else.
The price of greater wisdom and revelation is frequently tests, trials, and suffering! Didn’t want to hear that, did you? But, it is the truth. IF our goal is comfort, if we carefully avoid doing things that are hard or painful or costly, if we protect ourselves - we will never know Christ deeply.
One of my favorite passages in the New Testament comes from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians. If he were writing to today’s church, it might go something like this:
“Hey guys... keeping it relevant here in Macedonia! We traveled first class because you were so generous to us. The food was amazing and the hotels were like, Wow! When we arrived at our next venue, the advance team had things ready to go and did we rock the house. The people were screaming, jumping up and down with excitement. Timothy gave his testimony and when he talked about his Mom’s faith, the place was in tears.”
Not so much!
"We think you ought to know, dear brothers, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.
But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us." (2 Corinthians 1:8-11, NLT)
May the Lord lead us to wisdom and unveil the Truth that brings us closer to Him!
READ 1: 18 - 19
What a descriptive phrase - ‘the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.’
He is asking God to help us to think clearly, to align our emotions and will with His.
To what end does he pray for clear minds and emotions that are clear?
So that you will know the HOPE to which HE has called you.
Few things in life are as important as hope but we live in a culture that is less hopeful than it has been for a half century. After the horror of WW2, America set about putting that chapter behind us. The next 40 years were incredibly prosperous. Our economy roared to life and by 1980 we were the economic superpower of the world. The government grew and helped to change the ways we lived ... electrifying rural areas, building a vast interstate highway system, dealing with civil rights to enfranchise black Americans, expanding civil liberties. The future seemed bright and boundless. But, then things changed. A new generation rejected the structures of the old. Drugs crept onto the scene in every town and village. Sexual liberation loosed social revolution.
Churches, once the heart of the towns and cities, slid into increasing irrelevance with each year. Some major denominations lost more than half their members in a single decade. As God slipped out of the picture, a new kind of meaninglessness arose. Death haunts us without hope. Problems now appear so enormous that many have given up any hope to solve them.
By wide margins, the young believe that they will not enjoy the same standard of living as their parents. The shrug has replaced the smile. A careless kind of indifference has become the prevalent attitude of the young, as if they dare us to cause them to care about anything more than having a good time on the weekend.
HOPE is the birthright of those who are ‘in Christ!’
And what is our hope?
“The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”
Once again, our hope is not that America will remain a superpower or that our standard of living will rise or that our wallets will fatten! We gain great hope when God shows us that we belong to HIM, that we are His people, that are destined to share in His glory.
He assures us that He will enjoy us like an inheritance. We are His wealth! When our hearts are settled on that hope, we begin to live now from our future. In Matthew Jesus teaches us to lay up treasure in Heaven. The faith chapter, Hebrews 11, reminds us to live as aliens and strangers... looking for a better country. This becomes possible when our hope is enlightened, not until.
Paul also prays that our minds and heart will see clearly that
God’s power is being exercised on our behalf.
There is too much anemic, wimpy Christianity. Where we know God’s power is for us, where we have taken hold of Resurrection power, we become unstoppable. No, I don’t mean that we take over governments, or empty hospital bed with amazing displays of healing. I mean that we begin to deal with our sins and selfishness, living for Christ.
We keep our commitments, take on service with joy, do the hard things of discipleship without whining about how much it costs. Hatred is torn down. Broken people find wholeness. We do not just talk about the Gospel, we embody it. Over time our influence is such that we change entire families, towns, cities, and nations!
Why? Because we have great personalities working with us? Because we attract some rich guy to fund us?
No! We believe in the incomparably great power of God’s mighty strength and we see in with enlightened eyes.
What kind power is it?
It is resurrection power.
Yes, it brings dead people to life, just like Jesus came back from the grave.
It is completed power. Jesus ‘sat down’ at God’s right hand in Heaven. Why? Because He completed His work. God recognized it as done! We access power in Christ, not with a ‘might be, could be, hope so’ kind of feeling, but with total assurance that HE proclaimed “it is finished,” and defeated every enemy we could face.
It is ruling power. It defeats evil and takes authority, just like that of Jesus who once died in disgrace on the Cross, but who emerged to become “king of Kings and Lord of Lords, at whose Name every knee will bow in Heaven and on earth!
Yes, this is Paul’s prayer.
Lord, let your Church become full of wisdom. Rip away the things that would cloud their vision and give them full revelation. Then, they will be your intimate friends, living close to you, loving you, fulfilling your high calling.
Open their eyes to the hope that they own in Christ. Help them to understand that you have taken ownership and will bring them safely home to your side.
And help them to see the power that is theirs in Christ. That it is RESURRECTION power, COMPLETED power, and RULING power so that they will be unafraid to give their lives away - to gain a life that nothing, no one can take from them. Amen.
